Hundreds of thousands of people in the Republic of Ireland are expected to demonstrate tomorrow in over 100 cities, towns and villages to voice their outright opposition to water charges, water metering and privatisation of the public water supply.
Organised by the Right2Water campaign, a coalition of trade union, community and political groups (including the Workers Party), the demonstrations are expected to be the largest manifestation of mass protest ever to have taken place in the history of the state.
Workers’ Party President Michael Donnelly has called for a massive turnout for the protests. He said, “I believe that the issue of water charges has become a turning point in this country. For almost seven years the working class people of Ireland have been burdened with an unbearable level of debt, cut-backs and stealth taxes to pay for the crisis of capitalism.”
“The people can bear no more. They have made their minds up that they will not pay – and cannot pay – these charges which they know are a Trojan horse for privatisation and ever higher charges. No amount of cosmetic changes, bogus discounts or spin-doctoring will change their minds. The people have risen and they are not about to back down until water charges are scrapped permanently and water is protected as a public resource”, said Michael Donnelly.
The Workers’ Party President called for a maximum turnout tomorrow and said that the Party will be marching together in as many locations as possible.
A full list of locations for tomorrow’s demonstrations can be found at Right2Water.